


Infanscadophobia

by Faltering_Light



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Tarsus IV, flashback to a baby being dropped and dying, specifically as flashbacks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-03
Updated: 2019-11-03
Packaged: 2021-01-21 02:34:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21292202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faltering_Light/pseuds/Faltering_Light
Summary: def; fear of dropping a baby, fear of dropping a baby and the baby sustaining severe injuries or dyingSometime between the events of '09 and their shakedown mission, Jim holds Demora during a meeting of the senior crew
Relationships: James T. Kirk/Leonard "Bones" McCoy, can be read as pre
Comments: 11
Kudos: 200





	Infanscadophobia

**Author's Note:**

> I literally made up the word infanscadophobia because even though this seems to be a pretty common phobia, it didn't have a name yet.

“Uncle Jim, you’re not s’posed to hold a baby like that.”

Even not quite managing longer words yet, Jo sounded like a miniature Bones. Loud, bossy, and bordering condescending without pushing into being insulting. She frowned like him too, and he knew that if he gave her another minute to work up to it she’d give him the patented McCoy ‘you’re too dumb to share air with’ glare.

There was really only one acceptable response to that sort of behavior.

He pulled a face and stuck out his tongue. “You take it, then.”

“Uncle Jim, Demmy isn’t an it! She’s a _ she_.” And there was the glare.

“But if I’m holding her wrong, you should do it instead, right?”

A sharp huff and the glare ramped up a few notches. “No, that means you should learn to do it right. Sit down.” She pointed imperiously at the couch.

He looked around the room and sighed when it was very apparent that none of the assholes present were going to get him out of this one. Chekov was snickering in the corner with Scotty, and Uhura was clearly enjoying this whole thing way too much.

Jo decided that he was taking too long and put her hands on her hips, pouting. “Uncle Jiiim, sit down!”

He sighed again and gave in, careful to hold Demora as still as possible while he sat down.

Uhura laughed and patted his shoulder as she breezed by him on her way to the kitchen, probably for a refill judging by the state of her glass. “I don’t see how you can be so weirdly good with children, and like this with babies.”

_ Smoke and ash in the air, on his tongue, Kevin clinging to his shirt from the side and Macy on his lap, too dark to see the rest but easy enough to hear them, stifled sobs and hitching breaths _ and he forced a smile, making sure to use just the right amount of indignation as she disappeared through the doorway. “‘Like this?’ What’s that supposed to mean?”

She leaned back to nail him with an unimpressed look, hand on the doorframe for balance. “She isn’t going to break if you hold her too tight. Loosen up a bit.”

“What if I drop her or something?”

“You’re on the couch, she’ll be fine.” She rolled her eyes and disappeared from view again, clearly having decided this was just another facet of Jim Kirk’s frat boy style dumbassery shining through.

He stiffened up even more when Jo grabbed his arm and started tugging. He had missed her climbing up on the couch next to him, and _ the lady at the bakery frozen in shock, still half hunched where she’d been run into so hard, arms still outstretched, reaching out to catch the little bundle of blankets already on the cobblestone as people pushed past screaming _ and Uhura was full of shit this time, babies were fragile and _ breakable _ and he couldn’t handle it if he ended up seeing that expression on Hikaru’s face or Ben’s, even if he hadn’t known Ben nearly as long.

Jo stopped pulling, thank fuck, and he tried to catch his breath without giving anything away only to stop completely for a second when she piped up again. “Daddy, Uncle Jim is holding Demmy wrong!”

So much for hiding anything.

Bones was next to him in an instant, hand solid and warm and grounding on his shoulder. “I’ll show him how to do it right if you go get our bowls, okay? Auntie Ny brought ice cream this time, and it sounds like Scotty talked her into having desset before dinner tonight.” His tone supplied a ‘not that anyone should be surprised about this particular development’ at the end, and even with the lights suddenly too bright he could see Scotty blushing and Chekov half falling out of his chair, bent at the waist from the force of his laughter.

Jo launched herself from the couch with a shriek of delight, and _ phaser fire and screaming and crying and the thin wail of babies just as scared as all of the adults were and _Bones was shushing and fussing over him just as much as he was Demora, making sure he was actually seeing what he was doing before he started adjusting his hold for him.

Demora faded to a soft sort of whimpery fussing, and Bones started talking just to him instead of babbling reassurances that could have been aimed just at her but had definitely been for both of them. A quick glance proved Chekov was still teasing Scotty. Bones was nice like that, he always helped keep anyone else from seeing if he could.

“Jim.”

His gaze snapped back. He had forgotten Bones was talking to him, forgotten what he was saying, but Bones just patted his knee and started over. Bones was nice about that too, he almost always caught it when he had missed whatever he was saying at this point.

“Keep your elbow bent about that far and pay attention to her neck, she’s still too young to hold her head up by herself. Nyota was right, it’s pretty hard to hold babies too tight, and they’ll definitely let you know if you do, so don’t worry about that. You do need to hold her tight, though, so she feels safe. Keep one arm under her and the one you’ve got her head on around her middle, just like this, okay?”

“What if I drop her?”

He was pretty sure he was still keeping a straight face, but Bones sucked in a breath between his teeth. “Jesus, Jim...”

He was pretty sure he wasn’t technically supposed to have heard that.

Bones adjusted his arms again, moving him so he was holding Demora secure on his lap instead of against his chest. “Even if you accidentally let go somehow, if she’s like this she’ll stay in your lap. And, look-” He sat next to him, a little closer than usual, warm and solid from his shoulder down to his knee where they were pressed together. Still helping ground him. “If you really don’t want to hold her anymore, I’ll be right here, and I can take her.”

He nodded just in time for Jo to flounce down in the seat on the other side of Bones, triumphantly holding two bowls overflowing with whipped cream. “Uncle Jim, Auntie Ny says you can’t eat while you’re holding Demmy, or I’d’ve brung you one too!”

He flashed another empty smile, calmer now but still absolutely fucking terrified. He didn’t remember when the hell these meetings had turned into his senior crew piling into his apartment with whatever family they could drag with them, but at the moment he hated that it had. Going over potential crew complement and general outfitting for their first time out could be done with just them, right?

At least with Jo, a smile was enough of a response, and she wouldn’t needle him into answering out loud.

Plus, Bones was keeping her distracted.

He took a deep breath and focused on Bones again, catalouging every single centimeter of space they were touching whenever Bones stopped talking for whatever reason. He wasn’t really paying attention to what was being said, it was easier to just listen to voices.

After a while, he relaxed enough to actually look at Demora properly instead of just spacing out in the general direction of her face. Tiny nose, tiny little mouth, tiny ears, dark hair short and tufty but already thick, and beautiful little eyes. From what Ben had said earlier, she was usually quiet, content to just watch what was going on around her as long as she was being held.

Apparently that meant she liked to stare, if what she was doing now was normal.

He couldn’t help smiling at the awed look she was giving him, and it only got worse when she smiled back and reached up to grab at his mouth, probably a reaction to the movement.

Maybe holding her wasn’t so bad... as long as Bones stayed close. Just in case.


End file.
